


One Knight and one more Time

by BlessedTarantula



Category: Homestuck, davekat - Fandom
Genre: M/M, davekat - Freeform, davexkarkat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-19
Updated: 2012-08-28
Packaged: 2017-11-08 02:40:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/438246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlessedTarantula/pseuds/BlessedTarantula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry this one's so short, next one will be longer, promise!</p></blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Karkat stared at the living room, in disappointment and dismay. Everyone had agreed to help keep it tidy, and it was an utter shithole. He knew all of them moving into a student apartment block was stupid. Especially since it was all conjoined.   
Really, fucking, stupid.

They’d all been here since they were all around fifteen human years, with Rose’s mom being the adult to make it legal. She moved out once Jade had turned eighteen, though, and since then this place had fallen to shit.

That was barely a week ago.

The cancer mumbled to himself as he literally ploughed his way through the mess to get to the kitchen, which was pretty much spotless. At least these imbeciles could keep something clean.

He opened the fridge, seeing nothing interesting to eat their, raided the cupboards. 

Of fucking course. Nothing to eat there either.

Him and Dave were the only two in the apartment complex, everyone else was out, either shopping or just doing random shit Karkat really couldn’t have cared about.  
He just traipsed his way back to the living room, and attempted to clean up some. There was no way in hell he’d get it done himself.

It was at that point, Dave walked out of his room. Karkat scowled, expecting another legendary shouting match to strike up.

But instead, the Strider started helping him clean up without saying a word.

Surprised, but not complaining, the cancer just continued cleaning. Once they were about halfway done, Dave adjusted his shades, careful of course not to let his eyes show as he did so.

“I can’t believe things got this shitty in a week.” He mused, looking at the remaining mess.

“In all honesty? I can fucking believe it. We have a stoner, a Strider and Terezi. That’s enough to make a mess, but no we don’t just have them, we have all the other assholes that don’t fucking clean up after themselves.” He shook his head, stuffing polystyrene cups into a black bin bag. 

“Calm your shit Vantas.” Dave carried coffee mugs to the kitchen, dumping them in the sink. “We’ll get this cleaned up.”

“And then what?” He tied the bin bag up. “Have to keep doing this because nobody else will?”

“No we’ll make sure they do.”

“I’ll make sure they do.” Karkat huffed. “Even if I have to take the phonebook to the backs of their heads when they leave shit lying around.”

“If you did that I would probably hug you.”

“Keep your human affection.”

The rest of the cleaning up was done in somewhat awkward silence. Both were surprised they weren’t at each other’s throats, verbally and physically, normally someone had to step in between them before anything got too bad.

Neither were complaining. It was nicer, more peaceful this way. 

They both finished cleaning up, the room not quite immaculate, but a damn sight better than it was before.

It wouldn’t be in a few hours, though, it was movie night. And it always got noticeably worse on movie night. Of course, up until now, people used to pick up their shit.  
And without a word, Dave turned on his heel, entered his room, shut the door with a silent “like fuck am I coming out until John is back”.

And seeing as there was literally nothing else to do until John and the others got back, Karkat went to his own room. Then stopped short. They had no popcorn, and the humans were all so fond of it, so were Gamzee and Terezi. And he wasn’t relying on the others to remember it. He knocked on Dave’s door, and when he heard the sound of music and muffled lyrics, he knew he wouldn’t be answered. So he just pulled on his coat and left.

Lucky for him, the store wasn’t that far, and it was somewhat decent weather. A few years ago, the pedestrians and passers by would have stared at Karkat and the other trolls like they were freaks, but now they’d become a regular sight.

He opened the door to the grocery store, and hurriedly made his way to the snacks aisle. He just grabbed a random number of boxes of microwavable popcorn, before heading to the checkout.

Of course, he chose the self-service. 

Less awkward conversations. 

He scanned them through, waiting for the total to show up. 

Also, using human dollars had gotten confusing, but if he was going to live where human dollars were the native currency, he’d have to learn to use them.  
$5.49 was what it came to, so he begrudgingly inserted the $10 he had in his wallet.

Brands were still confusing to him, he didn’t understand why there are different producers of the same damn thing and why brand should make any difference to the price.  
He bagged the popcorn, took his change, walking out as he stuffed it into his pocket. 

Once he made it back to the apartments, he put the popcorn away in the cupboards, like everyone else should do, but they normally fling the shopping on the couches and leave it there until someone, in other words, Karkat or Kanaya, put it away.

And still, nobody was due back for another few hours. What exactly did he have to do to pass that time?

Fuck all.

He didn’t enjoy videogames as much as the others, because admittedly he was pretty shit at them. He’d tried taking up drawing, but all he could ever think of drawing was romcom case-covers, and even then, not very well, so he gave up on that.

Really all he could do was try and get some sleep, which he’d been having trouble with recently. He kept the fact he was trying to get used to sleeping in a bed instead of a recuperacoon, which was the reason he wasn’t sleeping all too well. 

Why did he want to adapt to a bed? He didn’t even know. It just seemed like something he should do because, well, you never know what could happen.  
He headed into his room, closed the door behind him and just got straight into the bed he owned. Everyone had a bed in their room, and every troll had a recuperacoon too. Why they all had beds made no sense since they were only used to dump things on by the others trolls, whereas Karkat kept his clear.

He pulled the covers up around his neck, closing his eyes. It didn’t take long for him to drift off to sleep, but he was woken quickly by horrorterrors.

Grumbling, he just rolled over, and tried again.

Normally repeating this process landed him with a few solid hours sleep, at the sacrifice of nearly triple that in getting to the point where the horrorterrors ceased.

This time it took minutes, which was new.

He was woken by a loud knocking on his door, to which, he leapt out of the bed, and quickly made it, making it look untouched as if he’d never been in it, he was embarrassed about the fact he was sleeping in it.

He opened his door, scowling.

“What the fuck do you want?” He snapped before he even registered who it was.

Nepeta stood there, grinning up at him despite the rudeness he’d just shown towards her.

“Movie night Karkitten! Come on we’re watching Ghost Busters two!” She was practically bouncing on the spot with joy. She was happy about any movie.  
But the title of the movie elicited an annoyed groan from the cancer. The first Ghostbusters was bad enough, and now a second one? 

He stepped out of his room and joined them anyway, he may be a miserable grouch but he wasn’t that anti-social. That was pretty much Sollux’s position.  
He sat beside John, who was going to be the least annoying since he got so caught up in these movies, ending up with a bowl of popcorn sat on his lap.


	2. Chapter 2

By the end of the movie, Karkat was just about sick of his life. John hadn’t been so caught up in the film, as much as shouting out nearly ever goddamn line, and everyone that could joining in.

Once it was over, he retreated quickly back to his room, he hadn’t even been in there a minute before someone knocked on his door.  
“Karkat!” Fucking hell it was John.

The door opened, the cancer scowling at the human.

“What in all manner of verbal-chafing fuck do you want!?”

John just laughed at this.

“I came to try and cheer you up!”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Aww come on why not!”

John didn’t even get an answer, just the door slammed in his face. Karkat looked between his bed and his recuperacoon, deciding which one. Does he try and fall asleep in a few minutes like before the film, or actually get a decent night’s sleep?

He needed some sleep, either that or somebody ended up dead because his temper would most likely end up that bad.

He stripped off quickly, not wanting to hang around in case somebody walked in then clambered into his recuperacoon, shuddering slightly when he felt the slime envelope him.  
Sleeping was much easier, at least. His awakening wasn’t the best, though, what with John slamming his door open and screeching his name.

“Karkat Karkat!” He was practically jumping up and down in excitement. “Nepeta found some kittens!”

After the initial panic, the troll just stared blankly at the other.

“You do know how we sleep in these things right?”

John thought for a moment, then his eyes widened.

“Oh man! I’m sorry!” Then he turned, leaving hurriedly, closing the door behind him.

Stupid asshole.

Once he was sure John was gone, he hauled himself out of the recuperacoon, dried the slime that clung to his body away, and changed. Despite his reaction to the news, he actually wanted to see these kittens.

Once he exited his room, there wasn’t even the need to ask where they were. Everyone was crowded around a box of about seven kittens, all of which were purring and mewling.   
He looked down at them once most of the others had cleared off, leaving John, Nepeta and himself with the kittens.

All but one of them were occupied with the girls, rubbing their heads against their arms and hands affectionately, the other one wasn’t purring, or paying the two girls any attention, it was looking up at Karkat.

The grey purrbeast hopped out of the box, trotted over and bumped it’s head against his shin, a small purr sounding from it’s throat.  
“Awww she likes you Karkitty!” Nepeta grinned at him.

“Then she’s the stupidest fucking purrbeast in existence.” He looked down at her, watching her as she mewled, rearing up and pawing at his legs with her front paws, asking to be picked up.

Despite his sour attitude towards her, he did just that, holding her close to his chest so she didn’t fall. “There I picked you up. Now you can shut up with that ridiculous noise and-“ he was cut off.

She’d reached up and placed one paw on each side of his face, and mewled.

Probably the cat equivalent of “Shut up and pet me!”.

He scratched the top of her head, frowning, even as she pushed her head up into his hand.

“Come on Karkat, she really like you, stop being such a miserable fuckass!” Jade had joined them again, though she didn’t sound like she was scolding him, but then again, she had three kittens clambering over her desperate for affection.

He scowled at her, but continued petting the kitten.

Who was still purring and mewling happily. She almost made him smile, but he’d pretty much trained himself to keep a straight face with anything.  
He put her down after a moment, frowning again when she just turned around and tried climbing up his leg.

“You’ll rip my fucking pants and then you’ll be sorry.” He growled, but he knew he didn’t mean it. He just picked her up, and placed her on the ground again, turning to walk away.  
“Karkat!” Jade called him back. “Come back and name her!”

He gave her a deadpan look.

“You’re trusting me, of all people, to name your purrbeasts?” When jade nodded he rolled his eyes, looking down at her. “This does not, in any way, make her even a little bit mine.” He looked down at the kitten, who, again, was trying to climb up his leg. “Alright...since humans don’t do the six letter naming system, and I’m fond of the name, Alice.”

Nepeta and Jade both grinned.

“That name is purrrfect Karkitten!” Nepeta nodded enthusiastically. “Alice really suits her!”

“Good. Now get her off me.” He picked Alice up once again, and put her back in the box they had arrived in.

It was too late to go back to sleep, and already the room was messier.

He rolled his eyes, starting to clean up. Even though he’d put her in the box, while he cleaned up, he was constantly making sure he didn’t step on Alice, or any of the other kittens. A few minutes later, they started exploring the apartment.

A lot of the residents had cleared out, heading over to friends houses, visiting parents, shopping...the few that actually had a job skipping off to work.

Gamzee, however, was not in any of those categories. He was sat, well, sprawled, over one of the couches, a cigarette in his mouth, staring up at the ceiling.

It was pretty obvious it wasn’t a tobacco cigarette, but it was much better than slime.

Or, so everyone hoped.

“Gamzee you’re not meant to smoke outside of your room.” Karkat scowled, slapping the side of his head firmly, but not hard enough to hurt.

“But bro...I’m comfortable.” The taller troll whined, stretching out slightly.

“I don’t fucking care, room, or I’ll put it out and get rid of it.”

Gamzee muttered to himself, but stood up, ruffled Karkat’s hair as a show of affection, before lumbering off to his room.

Why was Karkat still his moirail? Oh yeah. Because nobody else bothered with him.

The place was still a mess. He should have asked Gamzee to get up off his ass and help. Then again, he was stoned and that would be a bad idea, considering he probably couldn’t keep himself upright for more than a few minutes at this point in time. So he continued clearing up by himself. Fucking typical. But he wouldn’t complain, yet, there would be nobody to hear him complain, and he wouldn’t be caught talking to himself, which, admittedly, he’d found himself doing a lot recently.

Wasn’t his fault talking to anyone else was like talking to a brick wall.

He finished clearing up the clutter, he wasn’t going to bother vacuuming. There wasn’t any point. He was surprised Kanaya hadn’t done all this before, with being a perfectionist and all. Maybe human habits were infectious. Fuck what if he started piling shit up? No that wasn’t going to happen; he’d be the last tidy person in existence before that happened.

Again, nothing to do. He wasn’t going to attempt sleeping, in case Jade decided to bring back a box of dogs. 

Speaking of unfortunate animals left n the street becoming even more unfortunate by landing themselves here, Alice was pawing at his legs again. He sighed, not even bothering to pretend to dislike the affection, leaning down and picking her up, holding her at eye level. She began purring, trying to shuffle her body weight forward so she could bump their heads together.

He held her close to his chest again, scratching behind her ears, lips twitching into an almost smile. She rubbed the side of her face against his cheek, starting to knead his shoulder, which let him know he wouldn’t be putting her down for a while.

He sat on the clear but most likely grimy couch where Gamzee had been before, leaning back and letting Alice curl up on him, kneading his clothes still as he scratched the top of her head and under her chin. He let a small smile slip, since he didn’t think there was anyone else around to see it.

He was wrong.

“Vantas, I didn’t know it was possible for you to smile.”

It would be Strider.

It just fucking would be.

“Shut up asshole.” Karkat grumbled back, shouting would have probably scared Alice off and he didn’t plan on doing that anytime soon. “It’s not like you haven’t smiled before when you thought nobody was looking.”

Dave just shrugged, then flopped onto the couch beside him, reaching over and petting Alice. 

Silence.

Awkward.

Fucking. 

Silence.

So Karkat stood up, Alice clinging to his shirt and mewling, as if begging not to be put down. He didn’t put him down though, as he walked off and into his room. Dave just watched him go, eyebrow quirked.

“Wow rude.” Dave shouted after him, but Karkat just ignored him.

The troll shut his door, effectively shutting Dave out. Alice seemed to approve when he lay down on the bed with her, cuddled up to him, and started purring. He scratched behind her ears, under her chin then rubbed her belly once she rolled onto her back. He was there with her for about twenty minutes, before she fell asleep. He left her alone, slowly getting up off his bed, then leaving his room.

Dave was still sat on the couch. No, Dave Strider had fallen asleep on the couch.

Asleep.

Karkat was debating pulling a prank, but that was too much like John, so he decided against it. He just raised his hand, slapping him on the back of the head, much harder than he’d slapped Gamzee. “Wake up.”

Dave jumped slightly at the contact, one hand reaching up to keep his shades on. He looked round at Karkat, poker face returning.  
“Well that was really fucking rude, geez I help you tidy the place up and then I get slapped? You’re really grateful aren’t you?”

“Just making up for all the shit you’ done before that.” He turned away, bumbling off into the kitchen.

And holy lusus of fuck there was food.

He made himself a packet of instant noodles, only recently learning how to prepare them, that you didn’t just take the block of noodles and eat it. Even though he seemed to prefer them that way.

Dave got up, too, heading for the kitchen.

Karkat rolled his eyes, ignoring him.


	3. Chapter 3

“You can’t ignore me forever.” Dave spoke up after a few minutes.

Karkat didn’t respond. He was ignoring him, and he was going to keep ignoring him.

“C’mon man you can’t keep this up.”

Still no response. Once his noodles were done, Karkat grabbed a fork out of the draw, dumped them in his bowl, going to pick it up.

Until he felt something touching his horns, to which his arm instinctively raised and batted it away. Turning round to see what had happened, he saw Dave stood there, hand in mid air, smirking.

“Told you.”

Karkat scowled.

“We’ve told you a hundred fucking times and more you don’t touch our horns!” His eyes narrowed, but, unusually, he didn’t spin off into a mad rage and rant. Instead, he just turned, picking up his bowl, pushing past Dave as me made his way to the couch. He sat down, beginning to eat, shoulders hunched, leaning forward as if displaying his anger.

Dave followed him in, sitting beside him, mimicking his stance. Obviously to piss him off further. It was obvious he was debating touching Karkat’s horns again, which the troll was getting ready for. But he didn’t. He hardly even looked at him, as after a while, he leant back, grabbing the remote and putting some shitty talk show on. It was godawful even by Karkat’s standards.

“Turn this shit off.” Karkat continued eating, even when Dave didn’t.

Because it was all so incredibly ironic to him.

Once he’d finished with his noodles, he rather simply got up, dumped his bowl in the sink with full intention of just fucking off back to his room. He was intercepted by a certain Strider who clearly had mischief on his mind. 

Karkat didn’t even get a chance to snap at him before Dave had backed him up into the kitchen. A smirk played on the human’s lips, which unnerved Karkat ever so slightly; he was sued to him smirking but not that kind of smirk. It’s one Dave never wore, and never wore so...well?

No time to dwell on that.

Dave backed him up against the counter, causing Karkat to growl, lip raising in irritation. That didn’t stop him though. Stop him from doing what exactly?

Leaning forward, pressing their lips together.

Karkat’s eyes widened, and he froze up for a second. His arms raised, hands holding Dave’s shoulders as he tried shoving him away. Dave held his ground, nipping Karkat’s bottom lip ever so slightly. And that was it. Karkat shoved him back hard, this time causing him to take a few steps away.

Dave just watched as Karkat stormed past him, shouting profanities at the other. He’d stormed off without shouting it in Dave’s face because he could feel his face burning. He was blushing.

The fact his blood was bright red and unnatural didn’t actually matter here, did it? Nobody gave a flying fuck. It was more the fact he didn’t want Dave to see. Because if he saw that would just be a victory to Strider.

“Baby come back!” Dave cooed, purely to tease Karkat and piss him off further.

No response.

Karkat shut his door, sitting against it, face still bright red. Why was he blushing? He hated Strider. Hated his guts and everything else about him. 

But here comes the cliché, just like in all those shitty rom-coms he’d watched.

He’d liked it.

Yes, he liked the fact Dave kissed him but he didn’t want to admit it out loud. Why should he? It only happened because Dave was trying to wind him up, and it had worked.

He sighed, letting his head fall into his hands. He wasn’t going back out while it was only him there.

He ended up falling asleep against the door, no horrorterrors at all. He slept quite well, but he practically shit himself when there was a knock at his door. He scrambled to his feet, turning and letting his hand rest on the door handle for a few seconds, before pushing it down, pulling it open, half expecting Dave to be stood there.

But it wasn’t. It was Gamzee. He had his unnaturally wide grin on his face, waving his huge hand in a greeting. 

“Hey motherfucker.”

“Hey Gamzee.” Karkat looked up at him. “What do you want?”

“Just to make sure you were alright.” His brow furrowed. “You’ve been asleep all motherfuckin’ day. Normally you fly out of your room in a rage about how tired you are and shit...”

“What time is it?”

“It’s one, in the afternoon.”

Shit, he really had slept well. He pushed his way past Gamzee, pulling the door shut behind him. He was ‘greeted’ by bumping straight into Equius.

“Oh, I apologize....” The burly blueblood stepped out of the way, sweating as per usual, his normally poker straight hair looking a little frizzier than normal. But Karkat paid no attention.

He was heading towards the bathroom, ignoring the fact everyone else was bustling about. Once he reached it, he hurriedly shut and locked the door, sighing. Finally some peace and quiet. Also he really needed to piss. After doing so, he was hesitant about unlocking the door. Why? Dave. Fucking. Strider. Simple as that. Running into him after yesterday wouldn’t be very good for either of them. Because it would be like him to pull another trick like that in front of everyone else just to embarrass him. And it would work.

He did though, walking out, shoulders hunched, hoping they took it as a sign to leave him the fuck alone.

Though, someone did have to talk to him. They just had to. 

“You seem...different.” Kanaya had intercepted him. “Is something on your mind?”

Karkat shook his head.

“No.” He answered simply, not wanting to talk. Obviously. When did he want to talk?

“I think you need to talk.” Kanaya was persistent, and she would be, until she got to speak to him. She held out one arm towards him, and the other pointing to the direction of her room, in other words, telling him he had no other choice.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's so short, next one will be longer, promise!

Karkat sat on Kanaya’s bed, but she didn’t sit, instead, just stood in front of the door.

“Well?” She asked, expecting him to just start fessing up. 

“Well...” he sighed. “Kanaya do I really have to do this? I’m fine.” The look she gave him was an answer enough. “Alright, fine.” He glared at her. “Yesterday while everyone was out...Dave sort of...kissed me.” Kanaya nodded for him to go on. “And maybe I liked it. Maybe.”

“And did he?”

“That’s the thing, he did it to piss me off.”

“I see.” She smoothed her skirt quickly, suddenly conscious of the barely there wrinkle. “So you think you’ve developed red feelings for Dave?” She was keeping her voice low, which Karkat was grateful for.

He shrugged. 

“I really don’t know.” He half muttered. “I’m hoping not.”

Kanaya seemed to think about that for a moment.

“I see...well, thank you for trusting me.” She nodded, smiling warmly, then stepped out of the way of the door. “You know I’m always willing to listen if you need me.”

He nodded his thanks, before leaving rather quickly. Gamzee was smoking on the couch again, Tavros sat next to him, well, practically on his lap, eyes closed, asleep. John was splayed on the floor, messing around with a deck of cards, either game cards or working out a new trick or prank, Vriska on the phone, Terezi drawing with a stick of red chalk stuffed in her mouth. Then there was Dave. The only one of them that had noticed him leaving. He was looking at Karkat over his shades, it was easy to tell, but in that aggravating way so that you couldn’t see his eyes.

The rest of today was definitely going to drag on.

He managed to, somehow, busy himself with Gamzee. One, kicking him out of the communal room with muttered apologies to Tavros, then when the oaf was done smoking his joint, the three of them ended up in some rap battle. Karkat was worse than Gamzee and Tavros put together and wouldn’t admit nor look like he’d had fun, but he had.

As well as godawful rapping, they ended up drawing and doodling. Only Tavros was any good at it, Karkat’s and Gamzee’s ‘pictures’ looking more like angry scrawls, but Tavros still liked them. The other two had gifted their ‘art’ to him, which made the guy smile and hug them both, Karkat carefully though, made nervous by the explosive anger he often displayed.

Once he managed to get himself free from Gamzee’s stuffy, smoke filled and weed-scented room, it was pretty late. The clock telling him it was eleven p.m. Shit. Gamzee and Tavros were tired when he’d left, so he knew Tavros would be crashing there. The communal room was clear, thank fuck, as he shuffled across to his room. Nothing stopped him. He reached for his door handle, when he heard something behind him. He turned, seeing nothing. 

He reached for his handle again, but his hand was quickly slapped away from it. He jumped in surprise, turning towards whoever had done it in panic. 

He was nudged back away from his door, and once he was far enough away, pushed firmly against the wall. He scowled, trying to push back.

“Quit it.” Dave grunted. It would be him. “There’s no point; you know fine well I’m stronger than you.”

“Get off me.” Karkat hissed, eyes narrowing. Maybe Dave was a little stronger than him, but he wasn’t just going to stand there like that.

“No way man.” Dave smirked, pinning Karkat’s wrists against the wall now. “This is too precious.” His face drew close to the troll’s, lips ending up so close they were nearly touching.

Karkat hissed again between his teeth, pressing his head against the wall in a futile attempt to escape what he pretty much guessed Strider was going to do. Just as he was about to snap, he felt their lips meet. He froze up, again, unsure what to do. But this time he couldn’t just storm off, even as his face flushed up red. It was dark...ish, so maybe Dave couldn’t see.

Dave only broke the kiss to chuckle.

“Get. Off. Me.” Karkat seethed, face still bright red.

“Aw come on I know fine well you’re enjoying this.” Karkat could feel Dave drawing close again, but didn’t have time to move his head away. Their lips were pressed together again, though, this time, Dave put more into it.

Karkat didn’t respond, not for a few moments, but then he decided to see how serious the human was. He started to kiss the other back, eyes half lidding. Dave was surprised, obviously told by his split second falter, but he didn’t stop.

Karkat’s eyes opened when Dave pulled away a second time. The Strider looked surprised, even in the dark and behind those shades, given away by how his lips were ever so slightly parted. He let go of Karkat’s wrists, shoving his hands in his pockets and absconding into his room, hurriedly shutting the door behind himself.

Even if he’d scared Dave off for good, this was Karkat’s one little victory, and he liked the fact he’d got one up over Strider.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, a longer chapter!  
> Also, things are starting to 'heat up', if you know what i mean ;)

Karkat was still impressed with himself, even as he clambered into his recuperacoon and drifted off to sleep. He held a smug expression as he slept, remaining impressed.

He woke, earlier on than usual. Six a.m? He really needed to sort himself out and regulate a sleep pattern. He pulled himself out of his recuperacoon, wiping off the slime that clung to him, before dressing. He was still a little bit sticky but he was beyond caring. Yes, he was still full of himself due to his victory. Anyone would be if they’d one-upped a Strider. 

As he opened the door to stride into the communal room, he frowned. There was nobody there. No music, no noises from the kitchen or from TVs. It was like the complex was abandoned. He shrugged, assuming because it was six a.m the sane people were still asleep. He could show off his new air and his win later on, when everyone was up. 

But that’s when he felt someone watching him. He turned, scowling, but there was nobody there, just the wall. He rolled his eyes, but as he started to turn, he felt someone breathing on the back his neck. But by the time he’d registered that, his chest was pressed against the wall. He turned his head, cheek resting against the wall, eyes straining to see who had pushed him against the wall.

“Dave.” He growled, hands sliding up the wall, palms against pressed against it at shoulder level, preparing to shove himself back to push Dave away. “Get the fuck off me.”

“Nice to see you too.” The Strider’s voice was low, as if trying to stay quiet, to not be heard. “In fact, yes, it is nice to see you.” He half murmured, rolling down the troll’s turtle neck, before brushing his lips against the gray skin.

Karkat tensed up, torn between just throwing the human off now, or waiting to see what happened. Nothing too bad could come of this; anyone could walk in at any second...that was the logic, anyway.

He felt Dave’s lips meet his skin, which caused his face to slowly but surely start turning red. Even more so when those lips found their way to the crook of his neck. Strider nipped that sensitive spot, gently, and then started sucking on it tenderly.

Karkat managed to keep quiet, but barely, the tiniest start of a noise, since he cut it off before it had finished, escaping his throat, which just spurred the other on.

Hands danced up and down the troll’s sides causing him to shudder slightly. Part of him was telling him he needed to stop Dave right then, before it progressed any further, but then again, part of him was telling him to just submit and let it happen.

Feeling Dave press himself against his back was enough for the choice to be made.

And for Karkat to wake up for real. He opened his eyes, blinking away the bleariness. He looked around, as if trying to figure out whether it was actually a dream. But it was. He was still in his recuperacoon. He grumbled, moving to get up, but stopped short. He looked down, but, due to the opaqueness of the slime, what he was checking couldn’t be seen. Which meant he’d have to feel with his hand...which could end badly.

He sighed, running his hand along his stomach, then down, further and further until- he snatched his hand away quickly, being taken by surprise.

Karkat Vantas had woken up in his recuperacoon with a hard on. He scowled to himself, thinking of options. He could try getting rid of it, but then somebody could burst in like John had before; unless he locked it. He leaned over, grabbing his turtleneck from the floor, standing up and covering his crotch with it. He padded over to his door silently, then clocked the lock over.

He let out a shaky breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding, then stalked back to his recuperacoon, discarding the turtleneck as he slid back into the slime, shuddering slightly now as it enveloped him, suddenly being reminded of the dream he’d had. He sighed, before sliding his hand back down his stomach.

He couldn’t believe he was doing this. He stroked the length of his shaft, facing burning, flushing up red. After a while, he wrapped his hand around himself at the base of his length, sliding his hand upwards, then back down again. He bit his lip, eyes slowly closing as he repeated the movement. His mind, yet again, flicked back to Dave’s body pressing against his, blunt human teeth nipping and biting at his neck...

He hadn’t even realized he’d quickened his pace, or that he’d let out a low, but thankfully quiet, moan. He covered his mouth with his other hand, this time consciously speeding him the movement.

With his eyes closed, it was impossible not to get caught up in the fantasy playing through his head. He was taking it further than what he’d seen, which was probably a bad idea, especially if he started getting vocal, but when he had his dick in his hand and all the pent up sexual frustration was finally being released he couldn’t have cared less.

Dave had pressed himself against Karkat, lipping his neck, trailing up to his ear. Karkat’s whole body was against the wall now just about, as he felt Dave’s hands reach round to his stomach, hands sliding under the turtleneck sweater, and starting to slowly but surely undo those jeans that, he had just noticed, were trapping his bulge, which was desperately pressed against the front of them, as if trying to break free. 

Strider’s hips pressed against Karkat’s ass, the troll could feel the bulge in the front of Dave’s pants, which made him moan softly. He didn’t know why; it just happened. 

One pair of jeans hit the floor, quickly followed by the other, until both were left with only their boxers over their crotches and thighs. Now there was less between them, Dave grinding the bulge against Karkat was even more arousing than before.

He moaned out again, louder than last time, but paid no attention. 

Their boxers were off now, tossed to the side like they didn’t matter, because, well, they didn’t, not right then anyway. One of Dave’s hands moved from Karkat, making it quite obvious what he was doing.

Another groan, as Dave’s lips started making their way back to that sensitive spot- the fantasy came to a stand-still, as fireworks exploded all over Karkat’s body, causing him to yelp in surprise, then groan out afterwards. He continued pumping his shaft through his orgasm, little moans and other noises escaping him as he did so. 

He released his dick once he was done, shuddering against the wall of his recuperacoon, panting softly, still on a high from his orgasm. Once he had come down from his high, though, he scowled. He’d gotten too into it; in fact he’d completely forgotten about getting a pail beforehand.

But then that would have made it obvious.

Not like the red lacing through the green was making it obvious at all. He just hoped nobody went poking around in his room. Not until the slime had purged and cleaned itself.

He pulled himself out of it. Muttering, he scraped the slime from his body, making sure it was all off, before grabbing a clean set of clothes, leaving the dirty ones on the floor. He was in no mood to be the tidy one today, Kanaya could start living up to her perfectionist reputation.


	6. Chapter 6

Now not only did Karkat have confusing red feelings for Dave kicking about in his head, he now had to live with the fact he’d jacked off to him. Even with that shameful indulgence hanging over his head, he seemed less irritated, he knew he was in a better mood, but he also knew why.

He unlocked his door, slipping out, shutting it quickly behind him. People were bustling about, and he was greeted with waves and smiles, so far, it didn’t seem like anyone had heard him. 

Alice started harassing him, so he stopped and took five to show her some affection, well within view of everybody else, because why not/ may as well let everyone else know he was in a better mood.

It was picked up on rather quickly. Aradia strode over to him, petting Alice.

“You aren’t angry today?” She asked him rather simply, not looking at him, she was busy making sure she was scratching the right spot behind Alice’s ear.

Karkat shook his head.

“I probably got a decent nights sleep for once.” Even his voice sounded a notch happier. Maybe his anger all this time had been sexual frustration? If that was the case, he should be good to go for the next few sweeps.

“You made some strange noises in your ‘sleep’.” She looked at him, chuckled, then walked off, leaving him stood there, just holding Alice. He didn’t move, just watched her go. Shit. So someone had heard. Well...at least Aradia wasn’t one to hear and tell. Hopefully.

The only bother he got over the issue was the occasional look he’d get from Aradia, to which he’d avert his eyes and busy himself with something. Normally Alice or eating, since he seemed to rarely put the kitten down. He’d planned on going out, where he had no idea, maybe just for a walk, but he enjoyed cuddling ‘his’ kitten. He’d said she wasn’t his, even a little, but as soon as he walked in the same room she was in, whatever she was doing she just dropped or forgot about it to see him and beg for attention.

She was his cat now as far as he was concerned. 

He didn’t see Dave, at all; which worried but relieved him. Gave him time to think things through, instead of being confronted by him and having to make snap decisions and end up snapping. 

He didn’t see him during the night, either, since he’d stayed up, watching TV. He tried kidding himself it was because he liked what was on, but he was getting shit sick of what he was watching. He was staying up because he was hoping he’d run into Dave.

There was no dancing around that fact.

Come half eleven, he gave in. He switched the TV off, hauling himself up to his feet, rubbing one eye with the palm of his hand. Alice was laying next to him, but had long since fallen asleep, so he left her where she was.

He traipsed across the room to his door, deliberately slow, but still, no Dave. No anyone. He was the last one awake. He glanced round at Dave’s door hopefully. But it was shut. Not a sound coming from behind it. He shook his head to right his thoughts, pushing the handle of his door down. He let it swing open by itself, trudging in. Even if Dave had done something, he would have been too tired to care, and would have shoved him off due to the fact he was really, really snappy and crabby when he was half asleep.

He kicked his door shut, clambering into his bed. He was probably tired enough to get away with sleeping out of slime. 

He must have been, since he woke up just past nine a.m, and you have to fall asleep to wake up. Obviously.

He rubbed his eyes, not bothering to change his clothes as he slid out of the bed. He stretched afterwards, yawning to wake himself up more. 

He was going out today and that was final. He needed to buy something to eat other than instant noodles because they were starting to hurt his insides; he’d been living off them for far too long.

Pulling on a decent pair of shoes and rummaging around for his last few $10 notes, he was pretty much ready to go. And find somewhere else to get money from.

He didn’t have a job, but he had some money coming in each month which he kept to himself because someone had to buy the food. Nobody asked how he got the money, and he never told anyone how he got the money.

How exactly did he, though?

Collecting. He’d been collecting rom-coms, box sets, just anything to do with movies, and turns out quite a lot of the older things he’d saved were worth quite a bit. Hoarding was definitely something he was proud he did. He got more money than Jade, who worked at the dog shelter. Go figure. She had quite a fair income, but not enough to pay rent by herself. Everyone put money in from work though, and they managed to pay for it, as well as John, Jade, Rose and Dave’s parents putting money in for them from their work income.

Karkat grabbed his coat, pulling it on over his arms before stuffing the money into his pocket, doing up the zip because if he lost that money he’d have to deal with stomach aches until the next box set sold.

Out the door. Along the street. Walking into the store. It was all too routine, it bad bored him to death. He wanted something exciting and new for once. He didn’t know how the others found their lives so great and interesting, then again, they had hobbies. 

Karkat needed a hobby. Watching shitty rom-coms wouldn’t really be classed as a hobby. He grabbed a basket once he’d realized he’d be buying more than what he could carry. He dumped the food in the basket, carrying it over to the self-service checkout, but stopped short, wandering off down one of the aisles he had no memory of traipsing down before.

It was a general interest section. There were board games, videogames, books- books. Karkat stopped in front of the books, nodding slightly to himself. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d read a good book, or even looked at a book, be it good or not.

He looked through them, dumping a few romance novels into the basket, but then another one caught his eye. It was a biography. Who’s biography? Some big-name music artist that Karkat hadn’t heard of because he didn’t really listen to music anymore.

He put that in the basket as well, deciding he had enough food and enough books to keep himself going.

Self-service again because he knew enough people by now to know he didn’t like them very much.

Adding another friend to the mix would just result in an all out ‘fuck you all’.

He bagged his items, quickly exiting the store. He really, really wanted to get reading those books. That biography in particular.

He got barely ten paces from the store when he spotted Dave. He walked past Karkat with a smirk, a knowing smirk. Shit did Dave know?

Did Aradia tell him?

...That was a stupid thought. That was just Dave. He did that anyway...didn’t he?

Karkat just rolled his eyes, stopping his fleeting, confused thoughts from taking him over and turning him into a jittering wreck.

He made it home without another awkward run-in, absconding straight to his room. None of the food needed put in the fridge or in the freezer, it was mainly crisps, biscuits and tinned foods.

While he was finding somewhere to put it, he came across his husktop. He ran his fingers over the top of it, sighing. He hadn’t used it in a while. He’d been putting off using it again. Why did he need it? He’d finished ‘school’, all of his friends were here not scattered around, so he had no use for it.

Most of the others had replaced theirs and got rid of their old ones. But he’d kept his. He brushed the dust off the top, sitting on his bed cross legged, opening it up and turning it on, greeted by the short but sweet jingle as it came onto his sign in screen.

He typed in his password, amazed he still remembered, smiling at his desktop background. It was a picture they’d all taken when they had all first moved into the complex. He’d made out that he hated the picture, but in reality, it was one of his most cherished memories. He just looked at it for a few minutes, because wow everybody looked so...different then.

After his little moment, he signed into Trollian, to see who was still suing that piece of crap.

And, apparently, Dave was.

Fuck it.


	7. Chapter 7

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 14:12 --  
TG: Hey  
TG: hey  
CG: I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU STILL FUCKING USE THIS.  
TG: you can talk  
TG: youre using it too remember  
CG: THIS ONE TIME. TO SEE IF ANYONE ELSE DID.  
TG: looks like we are  
TG: well  
TG: i am  
TG: not sure about anyone else  
CG: I'M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR THIS.  
TG: fine then  
\-- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 14:17 --

Karkat grumbled as he signed off Trollian. He really wasn’t in the mood for dealing with any snarky or witty comments. He hadn’t been brought down off his good mood, though. Maybe it even made his mood lighten yet again. Maybe. But he wasn’t going to start acting differently for Dave’s sake.

He browsed the internet for a while, watching videos, reading...trying to learn how to draw digitally, which he didn’t do all too well. He sighed after about an hour and a half, shutting his laptop down. He placed it on the end of the bed, leaning over the edge to grab the bag, rummage through, and find the books. He pulled out the biography first, then shrugged. May as well. He got himself comfortable, undisturbed for maybe forty minutes, before someone knocked on his door, then just opened it.

Rude. But not much he could do about it now. He peered over his book, seeing Feferi stood there, a bright smile on her face. Why was she so happy? He was about to find out, three, two, one...

“I got a job at the aquarium!” She practically squealed, jumping up and down in excitement. “I get to swim with the fish! I get to go in and clean the bottom with the fish! I get to feed them too!”

Karkat put his book down, waiting for her to stop squeezing and babbling before responding. “Congratulations. When do you start?” He sounded bitter and maybe a bit grouchy over it, like always, but Feferi ignored his tone.

“Next week!” She squealed again, running out, shutting his door, probably pouncing on Eridan or Sollux. Probably Eridan, the almighty ‘oh fuck!’ sounded like him. 

He folded the corner of the page, putting it down on his pillow. He was done with reading for now. It was a shitty biography, and he wasn’t enjoying it, but he’d started it, so he’d finish it.

Later, though.

He reached over the edge of his bed again, pulling a packet of ‘salt and vinegar’ flavoured crisps. He opened them eagerly, they were his favourite flavour by far. He managed to eat about half of then, before he frowned, rolling the top of the packet and placing it next to his book, wiping his hands off on his sweater. 

Someone had knocked on his door. But really, really lightly. As if they were nervous. But as he went t open it, they knocked louder. Probably hoping they hadn’t heard the first time. Karkat just rolled his eyes, opening the door. 

“What the fuck do you wa-“ He glared at his visitor. “Fuck off Dave.” He growled.

“We need to talk.” Dave said rather simply. 

Karkat blinked, surprised that he hadn’t been greeted with a snarky comment. He stepped aside, letting Dave in though. Once he was in, he shut the door, turning to him.

“Talk about what?” Karkat sat on his bed, he wasn’t going to be standing around awkwardly.

Dave was silent. He looked at Karkat as if thinking of how to put it. It was right about then he’d decided actions speak louder than words. How did Karkat know that? Because he found himself mouth to mouth with the other.

He didn’t even bother trying to resist him this time, responding to the kiss straight away, eyes shutting slowly. It wasn’t just one of those sweet kisses, no this was a much deeper kiss. The kind that happened in the movies, when the two main characters finally saw each other again after so long – why was he thinking of rom-coms? He had something much better to be focusing on!

He felt Dave pushing him back, he didn’t resist that either, laying back on the bed, Dave clambering up over him, having to break the kiss to do so. They were both so clumsy about it. It was pretty ridiculous, but neither of them seemed to mind much, especially when their lips locked together again, both faces flushed up red.

Karkat’s arms wrapped around Dave’s neck, which was a feminine gesture as far as he’d learned, but he didn’t care. It was less awkward than just leaving his arms down by his sides. He felt Dave’s hand on his chest, causing him to blush even deeper.

The kiss was broken again, both of them taking in little gasps for air. But Dave didn’t lean back down to kiss him again, and because of that, a whine escaped Karkat. Dave just smirked down at him. He leaned down again after, though not to his lips. He kissed Karkat’s jaw, trailing soft, sweet little kisses down to the crook of his neck. And once there, he bit the sensitive skin tenderly, before sucking on it softly, the hand on Karkat’s chest sliding down to his stomach.

Just as Karkat let out a small gasp, the door flung open, Dave and Karkat’s heads lifting and looking at who had intruded, both faces still bright red, even the Strider not able to keep up his cool facade when being caught.

Lucky for them it was only Gamzee. And he was stoned.

“Woah...sorry bros.” He scratched the back of his head. “I...I’ll come back a little later on.” He waved as he turned round, leaving, closing the door behind him.

Dave got up off the bed, letting Karkat sit up. Gamzee had gone and made it awkward, Dave looking at the ground, and Karkat not even sure where to look. When he did look up, Dave motioned for Karkat to follow him, then left.

He would have got up straight away, had he not had to pull his sweater down over his crotch. Another boner. Fuck it. He saw Dave had gone into his room, so, as he’d motioned to, the troll followed. He didn’t bother knocking, just opened the door, walking straight inside.

“Lock it...” Dave’s voice betrayed him, telling Karkat he was nervous. Well, they’d just been walked in on, Karkat was nervous as fuck too. So he turned round, locking the door. Afterwards, he walked over to Dave, who smirked again, pushing the troll down onto his bed.

He went straight for Karkat’s neck this time, biting and nipping at it, slightly harder and definitely more aggressively than beforehand. That elicited a gentle, almost moan from Karkat. He didn’t get the chance to wrap his arms round Strider’s neck.

He sat up, watching the other slide off the bed and onto his knees, using his hands to push the troll’s knees apart.

Karkat’s eyes widened, both at what Dave was doing, and his reaction to his bulge.

Dave Strider smirked, then pressed the heel of his palm against Karkat’s crotch.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about not updating for so long! I actually don't have an excuse

Karkat covered his mouth with his hand to try not to make any noise as Dave palmed him through his jeans. But that didn’t last all too long. When the pressure was upped considerably, a half moan half gasped escaped his throat. 

Dave stopped palming him, much to Karkat’s disapproval, but only so he could unbutton and unzip the troll’s jeans that were, as far he was concerned, right in the way. He didn’t bother tugging his jeans down. He didn’t need to. Now there was only a flimsy boxer crotch in the way. 

The troll made another noise, similar to the last, as he saw and felt the other nuzzle the side of the tent in his boxers. He whimpered softly as he was palmed again, but with less between Dave’s hand and his bulge it was even more torturous. He pushed his hips up into the other’s hand, whining, begging Dave for more.

And he didn’t have to be told twice. He pulled the front of the boxers down, suddenly extremely curious as to what trolls had; was it the same or some sort...tentacle thing? He was relieved to see a normal looking dick spring up out of the restricting clothes.

Except for the fact it was gray. But that didn’t matter. He pressed his lips to the end, kissing it softly, looking over his shades at Karkat, who was bright red by now.

He lowered his head, tongue flickering out over the base of the troll’s ‘bulge’, before running his tongue up the entire length.

Karkat’s head tipped back slightly, his breath hitching when he felt Dave’s tongue. He thought it felt amazing when he used his hand, this was beyond ecstasy already. He wasn’t expecting Dave taking the end in his mouth. It caught him off guard completely, making him cry out, having to bite his hand to stop from making anymore noises that would alarm anyone. Or let them know what was going on.

It took all of his strength not to push his hips forward and buck into Dave’s mouth. The sensation was clearly getting the better of him as Dave took as much of him into his mouth as he could, hips giving slightly.

His free hand rested on the back of Dave’s head, fingers curling into his hair, which seemed to encourage him to suck on him even harder. And that was about the time he gave in. He pushed his hips forward, effectively starting to fuck Dave’s mouth. But he didn’t seem to mind, considering he let out a throaty moan, which sent vibrations along Karkat’s length.

Dave’s head moved with Karkat’s hips, the moans only adding to the toe curling build up of heat in the trolls stomach. He didn’t even managed to warn Dave before he came, crying out yet again, head falling back as a long, drawn out groan pulled from his throat.

Luckily for them both, Dave managed to swallow down and lap up the genetic material the troll had produced. After he’d come back down off his orgasm, he looked to Dave, who was looking up at him expectantly. 

He didn’t even bother doing his pants back up. Dave shuffled back and away once he saw Karkat sliding off the bed. Which was just as well, since that gave him pretty much instant access to the zipper of the human’s bulging jeans. He wasted no time in undoing them.

And Strider was silent. Which made Karkat frown. He started nuzzling and kissing him through his boxers, trying to get a sound out of him. Nothing. Which made him even more determined. Down came the jeans and boxers. He was somewhat glad Dave didn’t have some tentacle monster shit going on down there. That made this a lot easier.

He planted soft kissed up along Dave’s length. No noise, just a slight hitch in his breath. Seeing that didn’t work, he let his tongue slide around the base of Dave’s shaft, before trailing upwards to the tip. A soft, barely audible moan escaped him, but that’s all Karkat needed.

He continued to tease Dave’s cock with his tongue, milking pre from him as he listened to those tiny little moans. Time to get Strider vocal.

He didn’t waste time with teasing him anymore. He just wanted to hear Dave moan out. He took as much of him into his mouth as he could, tongue rolling around.

And Dave did moan out after that. He had to cover his mouth like Karkat had, face flushing up bright red as he did so. His hips bucked up, which caused him to moan again, maybe even louder.

Karkat didn’t mind, though, he didn’t seem to mind at all.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SUPER SHORT CHAPTER GUYS  
> sorry  
> but it needed to be short so it finished right  
> Plus I'm working on another 2 fics AS WELL AS this one so expect to see those soon

Karkat was, obviously, given funny looks once he left Dave’s room, looking slightly flustered, his hair a complete mess. How had it even gotten that messy? Fuck knows. He just traipsed back to his room to try tame his hair…or sleep. He was exhausted. He entered his room, shutting and locking it behind him quickly. 

He didn’t even bother with the bed. He kicked off his pants which he realized just hen were still undone, pulled off his sweater with a grumble before dropping his boxers. He clambered into his recuperacoon, sighing as he felt the slime envelope him. His eyes closed, curling up, drifting off to sleep within a few minutes.

He didn’t dream this time. But he woke, groggy, he wanted to go back over to sleep but almost automatically heaved himself up and out of his recuperacoon, wiping the slime from himself. He kicked his dirty clothes away, god forbid he have to bend down and pick them up while he felt like this, finding clean ones. He was still half asleep by the time he left his room. Dave’s door was sill shut. Nobody paid him any attention as he headed to the kitchen.

He poured himself a bowl of cereal. As he finished pouring in his milk, which he guessed was pretty much past it’s expiry date, he could feel someone lingering behind him. He turned, seeing Jade there. Oh great. 

“What do you want?” He half snapped at her. He was tired, hungry, and really not in the mood for this. He heard her giggle and knew she was either up to something or she knew something. And for once he was hoping she was just trying to fuck with his head.

“Well I was just wondering…” She paused to antagonize him. He knew she was pausing to antagonize him. It wasn’t that she always did it, it was more the fact she liked doing it. “Why when you walked out of Dave’s room, your hair was all messy like you’d been doing something.” 

“If you’re going to start implying things and assuming things I recommend you stop, okay? Just fucking stop. I’m not in the mood for your hoofbeast shit right now so if you feel the need to run your accusations out at someone go fuck with Gamzee’s head because that isn’t exactly hard to do.”

“Well there was less sarcasm in your voice at least.” She frowned. “Normally we would all end up hearing a string of utter nonsense that at the end of even you don’t understand what you said so something’s obviously happened!” She was grinning. “Were you always so angry because you weren’t getting any Karkat? I mean I heard you a few times. Not sure if anyone else did but Gamzee confirmed you two were making out like you’d never see each other again.”

Karkat made a mental to note to kick Gamzee. Which he wouldn’t do. Even though he’d practically given away the fact he and Dave were more than just mack buddies. He nearly shuddered at the thought of anyone else finding out.

He growled at her, eyes narrowing. “Go fuck yourself, Jade. Maybe you’re getting up in my face right now because you’re the one not getting any!” A weak response but it was something at least. “Why does any of that even matter to you?”

She was silent. Just looking at him for a few moments before she opened her mouth to speak, hesitated then sighed. “I was wanting to know because I really like Dave, ok. A lot. I guess to make it easier for your thick and stubborn head to wrap around would be I love Dave. And..I just wanted to know ok.” She walked away, looking down. She ran the last few fee to her room, slamming it behind her.

Karkat’s stomach sank.

Jade loved Dave.

He most likely loved Dave.

He didn’t know if Dave actually felt like that for either of them. This was so fucking awful that he didn’t know what to do.

He wasn’t hungry anymore. He pushed his bowl away and sulked off to his room to try and think this through. Ok yes he ‘loved’ Dave but he valued his friendship with Jade over that, but if Dave didn’t love Jade back and actually loved him? What if Jade fell out with him over this?

It wasn’t even a case of choose between them. No matter who he picked, he’d lose Jade. Or, at least he thought so.

But that thought alone was enough to near destroy him, and for the next few hours he just lay on his bed, only the thought of losing Jade occupying his mind.

He loved Dave.

But Jade was important to him.

What the fuck was he meant to do?


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strider is a sly shit   
> You'll see why

Karkat had been invited on a trip with Nepeta, Equius and Aradia. They were all off to some museum, specializing in Aztec and temple shit. Understandable why Aradia was going, she was into that. Equius was going with her because of his hopeless flushcrush on her, and Nepeta was tagging along so he felt less awkward about it.

What a fucking joke. Equius less nervous. Haha. Comedy gold.

He, of course, had declined the offer. He didn’t want to go to some shitty museum to stare at pictures of ruins. He had something more important to be attending to. That being sorting out this Dave situation. 

He was sat on his bed, lost in thought. He needed to know who Dave loved. That would give him the options he needed to put his mind at rest with this but how would he ask? Waltz up to him and say ‘Hey I know you sucked my dick but are you into Jade or?’. No that wouldn’t do. There was a knoc on his door, and he debated ignoring it, but none other than Strider himself walked in like he owned the place, letting the door shut behind him.

“What do you want?” Karkat snapped at the other. Yes he needed to find out which one of these, if either of them, Dave wanted, but at the same time him being around while he mulled this over in his head wasn’t going to be helpful.

“Well sorry.” Dave scoffed. “I came to see how you were doing, surely you can’t be sexually pent up already?” He mocked the troll.

“Maybe this is more sexual frustration so why don’t you be a dear and bend the fuck over?” Karkat growled in response. Though he wouldn’t complain if Dave had dropped his pants right there.

“Ooh Mr.Vantas Oooh.” Dave cooed at him, undoing the top button of his pants. “Well if you’re that keen. I’m not bottoming though, you’re taking the dick.” All said sarcastically, even as he undid his zipper, torturously slow. The troll had to look away for fear of taking him up on that half sarcastic offer.  
“I don’t think I hired a Stripper.”

“This one’s on the house baby.” Dave smirked, watching Karkat’s disgusted reaction. But no words were verbalized, as Dave lifted his shirt up and of over his head. Oh. Oh ok. 

“Put your shirt back on!” He hissed at the human stripping in front of him.

“Your words may be complaining but I know your dick isn’t.” His shirt was discarded.

“You’re telling me the only reason you’re in here is so you can strip off in front of me? I’m busy, get out.”

“Shut up.” Dave hissed, eyes narrowing behind his shades as his fingers dipped past the hem of his boxers. “You’re going to watch this Vantas and you know fine well you’re going to like it so man up.” He smirked again, already half hard and visibly so.

Karkat by now had looked back round, shifting uncomfortably on his bed as he watched. His bulge wasn’t complaining, if anything, it was begging for more, already pretty much fully hard. Karkat growled, as if that would make it go flaccid again, but the uncomfort an pressure just built and built and built.

Dave was long down with his pants. He’d kicked them off and away, jerking it where he stood inside his boxers, the moans and sounds he made all pretty much theatrics to get Karat worked up. And he was succeeding. The troll snarled, undoing his button and zipper, as Dave watched him. He knew Karkat wouldn’t have lasted much longer. A second pair of pants were tossed away, Karkat’s hand sliding hurriedly into his boxers to tend to his arousal, more or less desperate for some relief. 

Dave was stood in front of him in moments, still rhythmically pumping himself, stood there more or less to piss the other off.

Who glared at him, snarling and hissing in response, but then reached up with his free hand and dragged Dave’s head down to his, pressing their lips together. I wasn’t a violet kiss like one would have expected due to his previous behaviour. But he didn’t feel black for Dave so why would he savage his lips? No, he was flushed redder than his blood for this asswipe and all he wanted right then was Dave to just fucking touch him already.

And he did. The skin of the human’s soft hands glided over his knee, along his inner thigh, then finally into his boxers, prying Karkat’s hand off his dick so he could get a hold of it. But by no means was he gentle about it. He squeezed the base firmly, before pumping his length, quickly and hurriedly, which caused Karkat to squirm beneath his touch, whine and moan.

It was more or less part of his plan though. 

Karkat watched as he pulled something, that sadly wasn’t his bulge, out of his boxers, something quite small but surprised he hadn’t noticed was there. He was pushed back against the bed roughly, putting up no struggle as their lips crashed together again, this time the kiss heated and needy. Dave let go of both their dicks, forcing Karkat’s legs apart so he could kneel between them, grinding his cock against the other, the thin fabric between them now seeming torturously thick. Both pairs of boxers were gone within moments.

They were grinding against each other roughly, desperately, clinging to each other for the support they needed to keep the motion going. There were growls, snarls and grinds between moans and Karkat’s keening, but neither intended to stop for anything, and they weren’t going to, violently thrusting against each other in a tangled, hot mess of limbs. 

Dave growled in Karkat’s ear, before pushing away, snatching what he had taken from his boxers from off the bed. Karkat whined in protest, looking up to see why he stopped. Dave had been carrying a travel-sized bottle of lube in his boxers, and was hastily squirting and slathering it over his dick and fingers. He barely waited for consent, pushing three finger into Karkat straight away, finger fucking him roughly.

His back arched, but he snapped at Dave. “I don’t need stretched just fuck me already!”

The chances that nobody had hear him, or even the chaos of before, was slim, since not many of them had plans or work today and were more or less just chilling in the complex while he and Dave were having quadrant confused rough and carnal sex. Though neither of them were complaining.

Dave wasted no time, pinning Karkat’s wrists above his head, pressing the tip of his arousal against his entrance before pushing his way inside.

The troll hissed, squirming at first, sort of regretting passing up getting stretched at first, but as soon as Dave’s hips started moving there were no regrets. There was also no taking this slow either. The human’s thrusts were hard and fast, causing the other to claw at his shoulders, arching his back. Legs wrapped around Dave’s waist, using that as grip to move his own hips as hard as he could against Dave’s.

And oh god the sounds that were escaping them both after that. Even Dave had lost his cool façade, crying out Karkat’s name as he cried out Dave’s in return, pant, groans, whines. Karkat yanked Dave’s hair roughly, which fuelled the other to somehow pound his ass harder.

But neither of them lasted long after that. Dave came first, releasing into the other because there was no way he was pulling out for this. He rode out his orgasm just as roughly as he’d built up to it, grasping Karkat’s dick and tugging at it roughly, hand moving up and down the shaft as fast as his hips were moving. He took the end into his mouth sucking greedily, until Karkat yelped, the insane amounts of genetic material spilling into Dave’s mouth and down his throat as he swallowed greedily. He finally pulled out of him, spent. He shuddered, flopping down beside the troll, who cuddled up against him, making soft noises that almost sounded like purring.

He was purring, and started purring louder when he felt Dave’s arms wrap around him. Neither of them cared if anyone walked in at this point, they were both drifting off to sleep, and due to how much energy they’d expended achieving orgasm, they were going to need the rest.

Karkat woke up alone. Dave had dressed and fucked off back to his room by the looks of things. Karkat’s entire lower body hurt, and he could steel feel the human’s spunk inside him, but he didn’t seem to mind that as much as the pain in his lower back.

After showering (and cleaning himself out), he towel dried his hair, beyond caring if it was damp. He got the funniest looks off everyone there, but he brushed it off. He found Dave on one of the couches, grabbing his wrist and dragging him up.

“We need to talk.”

Dave rolled his eyes. “Alright.” He got up and followed Karkat back to his room. 

Once the door was shut behind them, Karkat’s tone was less angry and more serious.

“To the point. Jade has feelings for you, and so do I. But Jade means a lot to me as a friend so I need to know if you have the same feelings for either of us. So I can get this shit sorted out.”


	11. Chapter 11

Silence. Awkward, fucking, silence. Sure, Karkat hadn't expected Dave to just toss him an answer, shrug his shoulders and stride on out of there like it was all just a huge joke, or everyday occurrence, but an answer sooner rather than later would have been brilliant. But no. They were going to just stand there, staring at each other. Well, Dave was staring, karkat was glaring and growing more and more impatient. 

"So? Are you going to answer me or stand there, slack jawed like Gamzee?" He snapped when Strider hadn't even attempted to speak for a while. His patience was wearing thin. And not just that, he was nervous, and his nerves were just adding to the rage-to-be.

"I honestly didn't expect to be asked so abruptly." But Strider didn't sound cocky, he didn't sound like he was in charge or like he owned the place. He sounded just as nervous as the ball of butterflies in Karkat's gut. "I know Jade has had feelings for me for a while, and I even thought I returned the feelings, but-" He stopped, shook his head, then turned to leave. "Give me some time to think this through Vantas."

Karkat just nodded, watching the other leave. Let him think it through. In other words, chances were he'd been fucking Jade too. No, Vantas, stop. He couldn't keep thinking like that. Maybe these feelings he had for Dave weren't actually feelings, maybe it really was just pent-up sexual frustration after all? He just sighed, sitting, and resting his head in his hands. He could, quite happily, pretend none of this happened. Well. pretend he was pretending none of this happened, and secretly be wallowing in depression, misery and shame because of it all.

He was going to do just that, for now. He lay down on the bed, grabbed a pillow, and curled up, pillow to his chest. He should have locked the door, but he was beyond caring. He didn't want to get up. He was confused, hurt, and most of all, angry. But he was angry at himself for being angry at himself. After a few minutes of managing to stay silent, he choked out a sob, sinking his teeth into the pillow to try and muffle the sound. He continued sobbing, eyes scrunched shut, shaking now, arms tight around the pillow. He curled up tighter, wanting to sink into the bed, disappear, and never come back. He wasn't even joking. He would gladly just die right there and be done with everything, nobody would fucking miss him.

And this wasn't even about Strider. Not completely anyway. It was Jade. He cared about her more than he gave a shit about Strider, but in a platonic way. Dave came along fucked his ass and now he's convinced he has feelings for the asshole, but Jade had always been there, through insults, rants, all the shit he'd thrown at her over the years, she was still there, always willing to help him or speak to him. 

He was probably about to lose all of that.

An hour of self pitying later, there was another knock. He sat up, wiping his eyes and tossing the pillow away. The door opened, and, again, it was Dave. But he was...upset almost. No he didn't look upset, just slightly dishevelled. 

"Have you made up your mind yet or what?" Karkat near snapped at him, surprising himself. Well, he hadn't expected to be able to speak so soon, but hey ho there you go. No reply from Dave for a few minutes, but he didn't rush the other this time. He felt like he didn't want to know the answer.

"Yeah I made my mind up." Dave finally said, sighing, trying to sound irritated, but it was shaky, so he sounded nervous.

Silence.

"Well?" Karkat growled a little. "Are you going to tell me or what?"

"You." Strider said simply. "It's you..."

Karkat was silent. he felt a small flutter of Joy, and for a split second he was about to get up, throw himself at Strider and hug him so tightly the fucker wouldn't be able to breathe. but then he came back to reality. What he knew would happen if this was the answer.

"Right..." He didn't know how to word this, so he took in a sharp breath, before continuing. "Don;t get me wrong, yeah, I have those feelings for you, too, but this could mean losing jade. She probably isn't like that, but I'm not risking our friendship. We can't be matesprits, boyfriends 'a thing'." He shuffled off the bed, and headed over to Dave, arms out, offering the human a hug.

Dave stepped forward, hugging Karkat tightly, nodding. He wasn't crying, or sobbing or anything but the silence was enough to tell the troll that speaking would give away the sadness in his voice.

And that's how he left the room. Silent.

Just. Fucking. Silent.


End file.
